Mobile app management is being driven by unmanaged devices

The growth in unmanaged devices owned by employees or contractors is driving adoption of stand-alone mobile application management (MAM) software and services, according to a new report.

As reported by Gartner, stand-alone mobile app management (MAM) software and services is adopted because of the need to manage applications on unmanaged devices owned by employees or contractors.

By 2021, 60% of mobile apps in the enterprise will depend on at least one app-level management control, whether on managed or unmanaged devices, Gartner's Market Guide for Mobile Application Management said.

Companies only requiring app management can be attracted to stand-alone MAM licensing that offers lower cost-per-user and unlike to MAM tools - part of a larger enterprise mobility management (EMM) suite, Gartner said. Besides, EMM supplies the advantage of a single console and policy set for other firms.

Often a SaaS offering, MAM is a targeted solution that locks down enterprise applications and the data associated with them – not the devices themselves, as mobile device management (MDM) does. When MAM is part of a larger EMM suite, businesses are often required to purchase additional licenses for it.

As organizations grapple with enforcing policies on cloud services, they're more often turning to a cloud access security broker (CASB). CASBs can consolidate multiple types of security policy enforcement, such as authentication, single sign-on, device profiling and encryption.

CASBs enable access and authorization control over cloud-based resources, such as a cloud-based CRM front-end for mobile devices, Gartner said.

"It is increasingly apparent that the growth of CASB is more likely to complement rather than replace current mobile management paradigms. Therefore, mobility strategists should become familiar with CASBs due to the impact they are starting to have," the report explained.

Because MAM allows a company to control features or access to business applications and associated data, it can provide security whether on a corporate-issued or employee-owned smartphone or tablet.

"Currently employed by more than 10% of surveyed organizations to distribute mobile apps, standalone MAM will continue to find favor where enrolling a device in an EMM system isn't practical (as with contractors)," Gartner said.

Mobile integration platforms in an emerging class of products augment capabilities from multiple MAM and EMM vendors and introduce new features and capabilities in existing consumer and enterprise apps.

For example, Gartner pointed to Appdome's cloud-based Fusion platform, which adds new features and capabilities from Appdome itself or from third-party vendors, including EMM/UEM services/SDKs into existing consumer and enterprise apps on iOS and Android.

Appdome has partnered with EMM vendors such as BlackBerry, VMWare's Airwatch, MobileIron and IBM MaaS360, as well as MAM providers such as Appaloosa. Appdome developed its own software extension to bridge gaps between various vendor SDKs so as to offer multi-vendor app augmentation.

In some cases, Gartner said, the requirement for an on-premises solution may require an EMM suite, because stand-alone MAM suites are most often SaaS-based tools.

A stand-alone MAM tool is commonly used to manage one set of devices while EMM is used to manage another. "This could be because of a need for multiple tiers of administration or additional app-level security or user groups with personally owned devices that the organization has chosen not to manage with traditional EMM," the report said.

IT managers focused on end-device management should evaluate the suitability of its MAM capabilities for all expected use case to rate their existing EMM for application management.

An EMM solution is also recommended by Gartner for MAM anytime devices can be enrolled in EMM; businesses should evaluate stand-alone MAM only when they can't, app-centric security, and policy tools or multi-vendor app augmentation tools.

An organization is obviously recommended to select the best MAM solution by first identifying the particular problems that need to be addressed, since vendors often approach MAM "from very different angles."

Finally, as recommended by Gartner, positioning apps are managed using stand-alone MAM by evaluating the compatibility of MAM tools with certain app types.

"Stand-alone MAM, for example, faces specific challenges with public apps, and some MAM products may not work well with certain hybrid app architectures," Gartner said.

The research firm categorized vendors based on what their platforms offer: